Challenges of Complying with Multiple International Nuclear Quality Standards

Sargent & Lundy offers insight at IAEA technical meeting


October 18, 2016 - Vice President Randall Kurtz was an invited speaker at a recent Technical Meeting at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Kurtz was asked to share Sargent & Lundy's insight on the challenges of compliance with multiple international quality standards in a cost-effective manner.

Sargent & Lundy is engaged in nuclear power project work for a wide array of international companies with their own prevailing codes and standards. Kurtz explained that Sargent & Lundy's approach is to use a full-scope Quality Assurance (QA) Program, developed over decades of experience, as the baseline for each specific project. The project team then proactively demonstrates through comparison charts and other methods how our QA program and procedures meet the project's prevailing codes and standards.

This approach eliminates the start-up time that would typically be needed to create and become familiar with separate project QA programs. Instead, our staff can immediately focus on the project's technical challenges in a manner that will meet or exceed the project's required quality standards.

Kurtz also pointed out that a benefit of working with multiple international quality standards is the learning opportunity that this exposure provides. We have used the knowledge gained from working to diverse, non-US standards to strengthen our approaches for other key nuclear project activities, such as order entry and technical risk management, as well as to enhance the formality of our commitment to a healthy nuclear safety culture.

In summary, Kurtz noted that being called on to implement multiple international quality standards is an opportunity as well as a challenge that ultimately benefits all of Sargent & Lundy's clients.